I am a Platinum Elite and have flown Continental, exclusively, since their inception. While their service has not been without problems, they have always made things right in the past. However, in March I booked a flight to Frankfurt and paid a hefty premium to get on standby for Business First. Additionally, they deducted 40,000 miles for the privilege.

When I booked the flight, I was told I was the only Platinum on the list and should clear within 30 days of departure. After 30 days of skipping over me for the upgrade, I discovered the flight had been booked incorrectly and would never have cleared. This was after calling for 30 days, straight, to find out why I hadn't cleared.

On my return connection from Newark to Houston, I was told that I had been moved to the front of the Standby List. As I went to board the plane, the "Red Coat" at the gate informed me their was a problem with my ticket (after he had personally cheched me in 20 min. earlier). He allowed over half of the plane to board before clearing me. I questioned why he didn't notice earlier if there was a problem with my ticket (which there wasn't)? He never said a word as he handed me back my stub.

When they cleared the standby's for first, he called 5 up from coach, intentionally skipping ove me.

I was furious, but it gets worse. I wrote a three page letter to Continental's cuatomer service dept. describing my ordeal. I was told they would credit the difference between the Lufthansa fare and the fare I paid, they would credit back the miles they had deducted, and they would issue me a number of Customer Care Upgrade certificates.

After a month, I called the Cust. Care agent only to discover that she hadn't had time to input the information. I turned to a friend who worked for the CEO of a major, world-wide accounting firm for help. The friend spoke to Mr. Bethune (who acted shocked) directly and was assured that it would all be taken care of. An assistant of his even had dinner with this friend in New York and gave her assurance that all parties involved had been contacted and that my problems were being remedied.

Today, 3 1/2 months later, I called and discovered that there was no record of my letter or discussions with anyone at Continental. This is after having sent it 3 times to Mr Bethune's fax and twice to customer care.

I don't understand how they are getting Freddies for customer service when they appear to be lying to their customers. I would like to hear from other Platinum's in regard to their similar experiences with the drop in Continental's customer service and the misinformation they had been give by elite line personnel.

Maybe then, Continental will lose a little of their "superiority complex" when they see what their "most valued customers" really think.

63 years with one airline is a really long time!

Yeah, 63 years is a v*e*r*y v*e*r*y long time in the ff business. He should also take the time to nicely spell "Sales" just a little more correctly in his info. Just a thought.

Come on, give him a break... He made a typo in his profile, so what? Be nice!

Even in undesirable circumstances I have not felt that I have been intentionally misled by anyone at CO.

There have been times when individual personnel have been clueless, disorganized, or less than professional... but think about that last guy who was perfect, and look what they did to him.

Too bad that Netster is letting this one instance cloud his/her perception of CO. As I infer Netster to be rather emotional, quick to make value judgements, and perhaps a bit prone to exaggerating facts, so I wonder if Netster said something or acted in some manner during dialogue with CO that lost his/her own credibility, or otherwise alienated those from whom he (she) needed help most.

I disagree that Netster's problems are symptomatic of more pervasive issues which make CO undeserving of their award-winning track record.

And do me a favor, folks. Let the good people in Customer Service do their jobs in expertly handling your upgrade beefs, and let Gordo do his job in taking care of the balance sheet. Just because he's the Chairman doesn't mean he's the right guy to go running to with every concern under the sun. Pick you battles. You'll get a lot more mileage (no pun intended) out of working with customer service reps who are empowered to address your issues rather than self-righteously going over their heads to someone who will just hand the matter back to the very same people whom you've just walked all over.

And nearly every week, I let CO know just what this Plat thinks, every time I book another ticket with them.

[This message has been edited by FQTV (edited 07-29-2000).]

True. N=1

Hopefully this is not the start of a negative trend!

Correction..I flew TI before Continental took them over....but it doesn't change the facts!

[QUOTE]Originally posted by FQTV:
[B]Even in undesirable circumstances I have not felt that I have been intentionally misled by anyone at CO.

FQTV: The ability to make incorrect assumptions doesn't change the facts, but it can affect your perception, which becomes your reality.

You made a number of incorrect assumptions. I never "react", since that is the what happens when people fail to plan or "act".

I constantly write "at-a-boys" when service is exceptional and "uh-ohs" when service is below par.

This incident has been such a thorn that it prompted me to post on this sight to see if it was "just a thorn" or if others had had similar problems. The fact that you haven't is great, but because I'm not quick to assume, I will wait to hear from others before forming an opinion.